


Hell of a Walk

by nepenthe_writer



Series: WinterIron Bingo [19]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Dog Breeder Bucky, Fluff, M/M, Meet-Cute, witch tony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-06
Updated: 2019-11-06
Packaged: 2021-01-24 11:16:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21337351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nepenthe_writer/pseuds/nepenthe_writer
Summary: Bucky is a dog breeder. Not just any kind of dogs though. No. He breeds only the best Hell Hounds. Satan wants a new pet, he goes to Bucky. Hades wants a new friend for Cerberus, he goes to Bucky. Everything is going great until one day one of the dogs gets loose.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark
Series: WinterIron Bingo [19]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1374691
Comments: 8
Kudos: 308
Collections: WinterIron Bingo 2019





	Hell of a Walk

**Author's Note:**

> Square: I1 - Paranormal Romance for the WinterIron Bingo

The sun was shining bright and Bucky was enjoying his walk through the park. It was the first walk outdoors with the new litter of Hell Hounds that he had bred from his favorite bitch. There were five in total, a month old, and he was testing them on the basic commands that he had been teaching them at home. While Bucky saw no fault in selling dogs just as soon as they were able to be away from their mothers he preferred to give his some training first which was why he was such a well known and reputable breeder.

Despite the beginnings of obedience training, the quiet backyard that he had begun to teach the puppies in was one thing, the busy paths of Central Park was a whole different ball game and the puppies were pulling at their leashes trying to see and sniff everything that was going on around them. It was all part and parcel of what he considered his job as a responsible breeder and seller.

This wasn’t Bucky’s first time breaking in a new litter. He was an experienced Hell Hound breeder for a reason. People knew that when they bought from him they bought the best. Satan wants a new pet, he goes to Bucky. Hades wants a new friend for Cerberus, he goes to Bucky. There was however no way for him to know exactly where the hounds would end up at this point so he needed to make sure that they were ready for anything and that meant acclimating the pups to any type of environment that their new owners might want.

The walk was going well despite the hurdles of a busy day until a pygmy griffin went by making the pups go wild with excitement. In the resulting chaos one of them was able to slip his collar and go running off down a nearby path before Bucky could grab hold of him. Cursing himself Bucky got the rest of the pups back under control and shot a glare at the woman that had let her pygmy griffin get out of her own control.

Taking off down the path that the pup had taken Bucky hoped to be able to find him before something happened to either the pup or whoever the pup found first. He might have been in the middle of giving each of his Hell Hound puppies obedience training but puppies were only so good at remembering that training and Hell Hounds were a big breed even as puppies. Without a firm and consistent hand there was a lot of trouble that they could get into.

Bucky rounded the next corner, starting to become more concerned that he wouldn’t be able to find the pup, and skidded to a halt at the sight in front of him. There on the path not even twenty yards away was a man kneeling on the ground with his missing Hell Hound sitting perfectly still in front of him.

At first Bucky was worried that the man was trying to take off with his dog but quickly dismissed that idea as the man in question reached out and scratched the dog underneath his chin causing the dog to wriggle in place but never get up from his seated position. Not wanting to keep the man from whatever it was that he had been doing or give the pup another chance to run off Bucky hurried over, the other four pups urging him on all wanting their own scratches now that their littermate was getting some attention.

“Hey there,” Bucky called out as he approached. “Thanks for catching my dog. He slipped right out of his collar. I owe you one man.”

The other man looked up from his kneeling position, fire bright in his chocolate eyes that was matched by a blue glow from the center of his chest that became visible as he sat up a bit to look Bucky in the eyes. Bucky hurried over to his side and made short work of reattaching the pup’s collar.

“It’s no problem really,” the man assured, holding the puppy still so that Bucky could reattach the collar. “I’m Tony.”

“Bucky,” the dog breeder replied.

As Bucky worked on reattaching the collar and making sure that this time it was tight enough that the pup wouldn’t be able to slip out of it while at the same time making sure it wasn’t too tight he couldn’t stop his hands from brushing up against Tony’s. Not that he was trying very hard to begin with.

“I really appreciate your help still,” Bucky said. “These pups can be a bit of a handful, especially when other people aren’t taking care of their own animals. I was starting to worry that I wouldn’t be able to catch up in time with this guy.”

Tony smirked at the fond exasperation Bucky clearly had for his dogs. With the puppy securely attached once again under Bucky’s control the two men stood up. Tony couldn’t help but let his eyes wander over the frame of the man who had five Hell Hound puppies on leashes and was managing to keep them all under his control with the one exception that had led to their meeting.

“Don’t worry about it. Animals with future potential to become familiars tend to get excited like that when they sense other magical creatures around,” Tony explained casually trying to keep the conversation between them going. It wasn’t every day that he ran into someone so handsome.

Bucky raised up an eyebrow, not missing how Tony was checking him out, as he gave his dog a look. “Never bred a dog that became a familiar before. That must make you a witch then if you’re so certain he has the potential.”

“Got it one. I promise I’m not a wicked one though. Not unless you ask really nice,” Tony said with a wink.

Bucky threw his head back and laughed. It had been a while since someone had flirted with him like this and he couldn’t help but take the time out of his walk to enjoy himself.

“And what if I’m not very nice?” Bucky asked.

Tony hummed thoughtfully and drummed his fingers across the blue glow in the center of his chest. “Well then I suppose I’ll have to convince you that it would be worth your while.”

“That’s beautiful,” complimented Bucky nodding towards the glow. “What’s it do?”

“Thank you,” Tony said proudly. “It’s a charm of my own making. It protects my heart from a curse that’s constantly trying to kill me.”

That caught Bucky’s attention and his eyebrows shot up in surprise at both the admission and the casual way Tony spoke about it. “That must be a powerful charm to stop a curse like that.”

Tony nodded his head. “I used to be the best when it came to battle magic, spells and charms and such for war, but that proved to be a mistake and now I’m paying the price for all of the blood that was spilled with my craft.”

Tony drummed his fingers again over the crystal in the center of his chest that acted as a conduit for his charm. Bucky felt the strange desire to comfort the man that he had just met even though he knew nothing about him. For all Bucky knew Tony deserved the curse that he had received but something in his gut was telling him that wasn’t the case.

“I’m sorry to hear that Doll. Curses are terrible things to mess around with,” Bucky eventually settled on saying.

“Doll?” Tony asked, surprised by the word choice.

“Sure. You’re just as pretty as a doll. Plus, don’t witches use dolls in their spells on people?” Bucky joked, adjusting his hold on the leashes in his hands.

Tony snorted and rolled his eyes. “That’s voodoo. I work more with charms and the occasional potion or two.”

Tony glanced down at the dogs that were pulling at their leashes, unhappy to have been stopped for so long on their walk.

“I could probably whip up a charm to keep them from slipping their leash again if you’d like,” the witch offered.

Bucky looked him up and down once, interest clear in his eyes. “What’ll that cost me to get such personalized charms?”

Tony smirked in return, heat flaring through him as Bucky continued to flirt with him despite the talk of curses. “I know this nice little cafe run by a fairy friend of mine. She makes the best coffee you’ll find anywhere in the city. Buy me a cup and we’ll call it even.”

Bucky stepped closer into Tony’s space though nowhere near as close as he’d like given the dogs that seemed to want nothing better than to twine their leashes all around his legs. “And what if I want to take you out to dinner after? What will that get me?”

“Depending on how the dinner goes I think a goodnight kiss would be a fair trade,” Tony answered with a teasing smile. “So it’s a date then?”

“It’s a date. Meet you back here tomorrow at the same time? We’ll go get that coffee and discuss your charms and our dinner plans,” said Bucky.

Tony nodded. “I’ll see you then.”

Turning around the witch headed back down the path leaving Bucky standing there with five Hell Hound puppies that were more than ready to continue their own walk. Bucky looked down at the one that had escaped his leash and started the whole mess in the first place.

“I’ll give you a pass this one time cause you might have just gotten me the best date ever but don’t think that means you can just go running off whenever you feel like it,” Bucky chastised the pup.

The dog just gave a tilt of its head but otherwise ignored Bucky’s reprimand. Sighing at the incorrigibility of puppies Bucky gave a small tug to the leashes and began leading the pups back home. He had a date to plan out after all.


End file.
